Frank D'Alfonso
Frankie "Flowers" D'Alfonso (Murdered 2016 allegedly for not supporting third party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein who was a huge supporter of the environmental movement and by extension supported flowers), D'alfonso was a powerful and well respected associate of the Philadelphia crime family under the leadership of don Angelo Bruno. Biography D'alfonso was a long-time Bruno associate, he was considered low-key, and had a penchant for running businesses. He set up a vending machine business, known as "D'Alfonso Enterprises", with another reputed mob figure, Raymond Martorano. He also had extensive real estate holdings, including some in the Caribbean. For many years he ran a flower shop at 821 S. Ninth St. - hence his nickname - and the shop was often a focus of police surveillance because reputed Mafia chieftains from the city and beyond could be seen entering its door from time to time. On one such occasion, in September 1968, police broke up what they said was a meeting between alleged Bruno crime-family members and New England based Patriarca crime family members that had been taking place in D'Alfonso's home above the shop. He was once convicted for bookmaking and for refusing to testify; there were reports that he had tried to muscle in on Atlantic City casino unions, and there were allegations that he had taken a cut from the heroin trade. He was well-known in his South Philadelphia community and was liked by many and was even involved in some civic endeavors. The best known - or at least the most widely publicized - of his community works involved running bingo games at a South Philadelphia church. In November 1980, D'Alfonso and his daughter, Gina, then 18, were identified by police as being in charge of bingo games under way inside the St. Paul Church at 10th and Christian Streets when police raided the church and confiscated 18 illegal slot machines. At that time, a police source said the raid was part of a program to put pressure on members of organized crime in the city. The goal was to obtain information, particularly about the March 1980 murder of Angelo Bruno and about other crime figures. Bingo players at the hall said at the time that D'Alfonso was a member of the parish and had helped operate the bingo games for several years. D'Alfonso was in trouble on the night of Oct. 29, 1981. He had just been scraped up off a South Philadelphia pavement and rushed to Pennsylvania Hospital where a bevy of emergency room doctors and nurses were trying to put him back together. He had suffered a brutal beating with blunt instruments, had his skull fractured, and had his jaw and the bones beneath his eyes broken. His left kneecap and leg were shattered. Somehow, D'Alfonso managed to survive that beating, and it wasn't until 1985 that he became one of the score and more of Philadelphia mobsters put into premature graves in the factional war that followed the execution of long-time boss Angelo Bruno. D'Alfonso was 57 when he was gunned down on a South Philadelphia Street corner in 1982, he was allegedly murdered for refusing to pay a street tax that had been instated by Nicodemo Scarfo. Category:Philadelphia crime family Category:Associates Category:Murdered Mobsters Category:Mob Wives